"Shopkeeper Li, please take a look."
Su Mu handed over the long saber with both hands, and when all the blacksmith masters saw the saber he handed over, they all looked incredulous.
"This... Is this a Ten-Refined Blade Soldier?"
The blacksmith masters, who had been forging for many years and had crafted many Ten-Refined Weapons, made a preliminary judgnt on this blade, and instantly there was a master who couldn’t believe his eyes and exclaid in surprise.
Under normal circumstances, a beginner apprentice would take several years, and those with poor talent might even take over a decade of learning to be able to craft a qualified Ten-Refined Blade Soldier.
But Su Mu had been at the shop for less than a year, and that includes three months of odd jobs; the actual ti he spent was only a few months. Such forging aptitude is simply extraordinary.
For a mont, the sound of swallowing resounded throughout the forging room, and then everyone’s eyes fell on Li Tie.
The initial judgnt of the weapon as a Ten-Refined Weapon still required Shopkeeper Li’s inspection to be deed accurate.
Li Tie picked up the blade, first glancing at the blade itself, then he ran his hand over it carefully examining every detail of the long saber, occasionally tapping and flicking it with his calloused fingers, and as the inspection progressed, the brilliance in Li Tie’s eyes grew even brighter.
"Hmm, the blade is straight without a bend..."
"The texture is slightly heavy, the edge is firm, although there are so minor flaws, the good far outweighs the bad; this long saber ets the standard of a Ten-Refined Weapon."
Li Tie showed a look of astonishnt and gave his evaluation.
Instantly, the forging room echoed with a collective intake of breath, as everyone understood, despite Shopkeeper Li’s usual humble deanor, his standards for weapons were not low at all; getting such an evaluation on a first attempt at forging a weapon was no small feat.
Su Mu was still the first in the shop!
Even when the full-fledged blacksmith masters first ca to the shop, Shopkeeper Li would have them forge a weapon to try themselves, and at that ti quite a few of these veterans failed to satisfy Li Tie.
One can only imagine the shock Su Mu had brought to the blacksmith masters, concerning the so-called flaws ntioned by Li Tie, they were not at all an issue, considering Su Mu was only forging a weapon for the first ti.
Soon, Li Tie publicly announced, "Su Mu, from today on you are our shop’s ninth weapon blacksmith; in addition to your monthly salary of two taels of silver, you will receive an extra 300 silver coins for every Ten-Refined Weapon you forge. I hope you will continue to strive for excellence."
Su Mu bead with joy. When he initially chose to forge weapons over agricultural tools and weapons, it was with the goal of earning higher pay; he now urgently needed more silver to balance his expenses.
The first ti forging the long saber took Su Mu over twenty days. As they say, the first step is always the hardest. With this initial experience and the fact that Su Mu’s forging skill had reached Great Success, familiarity breeds confidence.
Su Mu was confident that there would be a huge improvent in his efficiency of forging weapons, estimating that he could forge at least two swords a month; bringing in an inco of more than two and a half taels of silver a month, which is more than eight tis the previous reward of 300 cents!
"Thank you, Shopkeeper Li, I will surely double my efforts from now on."
Su Mu expressed his gratitude.
"Kid, congratulations."
Zhou Mountain stepped forward at this mont to congratulate him. To be honest, Su Mu’s growth rate far exceeded Zhou Mountain’s expectations; initially, Zhou expected Su Mu to rely forge a weapon by himself, without any stringent requirents for it to be Ten-Refined, so long as it was a complete forge.
However, he did not expect Su Mu to give him such a surprise, feeling the envious gazes from the other blacksmith masters, Zhou Mountain couldn’t help but grin. Watching Su Mu beco a full-fledged blacksmith, Zhou Mountain’s delight was no less than Su Mu’s own.
"The future is limitless, Su Mu, you must work hard from now on, strive to marry a wife in a few years, hahaha."
The other blacksmith masters also ca forward to congratulate him, and naturally, there was the old generation’s jesting towards the young, filling the forging room with an atmosphere of joy.
Su Mu thanked the congratulating blacksmith masters one by one, yet his mind was not overly prideful. He knew very well that while hard work was indeed important, the key to becoming a full-fledged blacksmith within a year lay in his increased comprehension.
"Now my comprehension is at 7 points, seven tis what it was when I first transmigrated; regardless of whether it’s learning forging or cultivating Martial Arts, my speed far surpasses ordinary people..."
"While ordinary people need to spend several years, I only need a few months."
"Endless comprehension, everything is just beginning!"
Su Mu was full of anticipation for the future; he knew that as long as he kept moving forward step by step with a solid footing, the future would be bright.
In the springti, the rain drizzled on incessantly.
By the evening, Su Mu returned to the village, took off his raincoat, and calculated that it had been forty-three days since he last took the antidote, over ten days past the monthly antidote requirent.
As the rainy weather triggered the toxins inside his body, it felt like countless bugs were crawling and gnawing at his flesh and internal organs, causing Su Mu to tremble slightly and sweat coldly but he gritted his teeth to endure.
When the sharp pain subsided, Su Mu’s face turned pale as he let out a long, deep breath.
"I can still hold out for a few more days; over the past three months, I’ve only used two antidotes... I still have four antidotes left."
The youth squinted slightly, from the mont the person in charge left, he had quietly started preparing to escape from being a Death Warrior. Directly releasing himself from the control of the drugs was unrealistic; Su Mu’s first step was to try to delay taking the antidote as much as possible.
Doing so would gradually decrease his reliance on the antidote, even if only by a little, it was aningful. Moreover, the saved antidotes would beco Su Mu’s trump card, possibly useful in critical monts.
"Ti to begin cultivating."
After a breath, Su Mu first brewed the Three-in-One Body-Strengthening Soup and still made a grimace when drinking the concoction at this point. Gnashing his teeth, he gulped down a bowl, and then Su Mu started practicing Five Animals Qigong and Tiger Subduing Fist in the woodshed.
The wind of his fists roared, creating a mighty force.
When his whole body was drenched in sweat, satisfied and invigorated, Su Mu completed his exercises, washed up, and went to bed.
A few days later, several new apprentices arrived at the shop. Li Tie originally had little interest in taking new apprentices, but upon finding a talent like Su Mu, the shopkeeper seed to take a keen interest in apprentices again.
This ti, it wasn’t just the shopkeeper who was eager, but many of the blacksmith masters in the forge who also showed interest, all proactively offering to take on apprentices.
Zhou Mountain found out about the matter and smiled broadly but didn’t compete with them. He was already satisfied having trained a Su Mu, who was bound to excel beyond excellence.
Zhou Mountain knew well that it wasn’t easy to produce soone like Su Mu; this kid wasn’t officially confird so quickly because of what Zhou Mountain taught him, but more due to Su Mu’s own high aptitude, his ability to endure hardship, and his willingness to persist.
Clang!
Sparks flew, and a crisp and pleasing sound of tal echoed continuously.
"Is this the Su Blacksmith from whom the master spoke? Is he really just a newly confird blacksmith master? Why do I feel like his forging skill is even higher than other senior masters?"
The new apprentices at the blacksmith shop, while helping Su Mu with the bellows, were srized as they watched.
The forging hamr, weighing twenty or thirty pounds, seed as light as a feather in Su Mu’s hands. Su Mu skillfully integrated his power and Tiger Subduing Fist into it, and with each strike, the ground resonated slightly. One hamr followed another, rhythmic as spring rain, yet unyielding like a storm.
Such a forging technique would reveal so depth to even an unskilled eye.
"This kid’s progress is just incredible."
Zhou Mountain looked over a few tis, surprised. At this rate, Su Mu would likely surpass all the blacksmith masters in the shop this year, including a master with decades of forging experience, or even the shop’s owner, Li Tie.
Clang, clang, clang!
The flas roared, and with the sound of iron striking iron, ti flew by, and spring gave way to sumr.
In the blink of an eye, three months had passed.
Under the blazing sun, in the shaded forest behind the mountain, Su Mu was practicing Tiger Subduing Fist, each move producing a crisp and firm sonic boom. As he continued to punch, he felt his Qi Blood growing increasingly hot and restless, and the power circulating between his arms faintly touched a bottleneck.
As long as he could break through this bottleneck, he would step into an entirely new level.
Su Mu beca even more absorbed in his punches, his technique growing more rapid and fierce.
The diligent reaps, a harvest proportional to the sowing; months of quantitative change turned into qualitative change at this mont. As Su Mu unleashed a final punch, a faint tiger’s roar echoed from his fist, and the bottleneck was shattered with a roar!
Rumble.
Like a burst dam, Su Mu felt the power inside him instantly penetrate all his acupoints, resonating through his body, accompanied by a series of crackling sounds.
At this mont, the power inside Su Mu surged like a river under the downpour of a sumr rain, rising continuously and becoming more solid.
Power Penetrating All Acupoints, Refining Force accomplished!
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